Daily wrap: India-NZ WC match washed out; all on board AN-32 dead

India, New Zealand share a point each after another washout

The frustrating English weather finally caught up with the Indian team as their third World Cup game against New Zealand was called off without a ball being bowled here Thursday. New Zealand have seven points from four games while India now have five from three with the next game against Pakistan in Manchester on Sunday. Incidentally, the weather Gods are threatening to play spoilsport over there too. The toss was delayed due to inclement weather and in the end it never took place. An inspection was to happen at 3 pm IST, the scheduled start time, but was put off after it started raining again.

Several names doing the rounds to replace Yeddy as K’taka BJP chief

As the Bharatiya Janata Party set the ball rolling to elect a new party president at the national level replacing Amit Shah, the change of guard in Karnataka, too, appears imminent. B S Yeddyurappa, who turned 76 this year, played dual role—as BJP’s state party president and as opposition leader in Karnataka Assembly. Forced by the Lok Sabha elections and absence of a mass leader within the BJP to replace Yeddyurappa, the party relaxed its unsaid rule of retirement age of 75 for him. BJP let Yeddyurappa continue as party president despite his three-year-term ending in April.  His selection as the party’s unit chief was in the context of his hold on the Lingayat community, a key voter base in Karnataka.

TN police books three for allegedly planning terror attacks in Coimbatore

A day after National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Mohammed Azharrudin, the alleged mastermind of ISIS’s Tamil Nadu module, from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu police on Wednesday (June 12) registered cases against three youths in Coimbatore and picked them up for questioning over their alleged plan to launch terror attacks in the city. Police said the three are staunch supporters of ISIS and were propagating its ideology on social media. They are also suspected of having links with Maulvi Zahran Bin Hashim, the mastermind of the Sri Lanka Easter attacks.

PM Modi meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (June 13) met Russian President Vladimir Putin here and the two leaders reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations to further strengthen the bilateral strategic relationship. This is the first meeting between the two leaders after Modi’s re-election following the stunning victory of the BJP in the general elections last month. “A special partner, a privileged relationship! PM @narendramodi met with @KremlinRussia_E Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of #SCOSummit in #Bishkek. Reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations to further strengthen the strategic relationship,” External Affairs Ministry (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

India to have own space station by 2030: ISRO chief

India is planning to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan said on June 13. The ambitious project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission and is being targeted to be launched by 2030, said an NDTV report. The Gaganyaan mission plans to send an Indian crew to space sometime in 2022. “We have to sustain the Gaganyaan programme after the launch of (the) human space mission. In this context, India is planning to have its own space station,” Sivan told reporters.

Cyclone Vayu: Power supply disrupted in 560 Gujarat villages

Power supply has been disrupted in nearly 560 villages of Gujarat due to cyclone Vayu and all efforts are on to restore it, an official said on Thursday. The Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) chalked out an action plan well in advance in view of the cyclone threat, the state government-promoted company’s in-charge managing director Shahmeena Husain told PTI. “Around 561 feeder lines in Saurashtra and south Gujarat are affected due to the impact of cyclone Vayu. We are confident that the power supply will be restored soon in the 560 affected villages,” she said.

13 people on board missing AN-32 dead: IAF officials

All 13 people on board the AN-32 aircraft which crashed in a remote area in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month are dead, officials of the Indian Air Force (IAF) said on Thursday (June 13). The twitter page of IAF said that a team of rescuers reached the crash site on Thursday morning, but didn’t find any survivors. “Eight members of the rescue team have reached the crash site today morning. IAF is sad to inform that there are no survivors from the crash of An32,” the Air Force tweeted on Thursday.